The Second Department vacated defendant’s guilty plea because the record did not include a signed written waiver of indictment, as required by the NYS Constitution:
… [T]he record on appeal does not contain a signed waiver of the defendant’s right to be prosecuted by an indictment. Although a written waiver of indictment appears in the record, it was not signed by the defendant. Furthermore, contrary to the People’s contention, although the transcript of the plea proceedings indicates that the defendant signed a document denominated as a written indictment waiver, that reference in the transcript alone is insufficient to satisfy the constitutional requirement that a waiver of indictment “be evidenced by written instrument signed by the defendant” … . Since the failure to comply with this constitutional requirement amounts to a jurisdictional defect in the plea proceedings … . People v Eulo, 2017 NY Slip Op 08684, Second Dept 12-13-17
CRIMINAL LAW (WAIVER OF INDICTMENT, ABSENCE OF A SIGNED WRITTEN WAIVER OF INDICTMENT REQUIRED BY THE NYS CONSTITUTION IS A JURISDICTIONAL DEFECT, GUILTY PLEA VACATED (SECOND DEPT))/CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (WAIVER OF INDICTMENT, ABSENCE OF A SIGNED WRITTEN WAIVER OF INDICTMENT REQUIRED BY THE NYS CONSTITUTION IS A JURISDICTIONAL DEFECT, GUILTY PLEA VACATED (SECOND DEPT))/INDICTMENT, WAIVER OF (ABSENCE OF A SIGNED WRITTEN WAIVER OF INDICTMENT REQUIRED BY THE NYS CONSTITUTION IS A JURISDICTIONAL DEFECT, GUILTY PLEA VACATED (SECOND DEPT)